Strange Snail Behavior (sorta long)

[tomm10]

I have two snails in my 10 gal planted tank that is close to finishing its cycle. One Gold Inca and one Ramshorn snail share the tank with four zebra Danios.

When I came home from work yesterday I noticed the gold inca spending a lot of time on the glass near the water line right under the hang on back filter.

The nitrites were a bit high (2.0) so I changed 20% of the water. He hung out there for a bit more then made his way to into the wisteria near the filter. then the strange activity happened. He popped up to the surface! I've seen the snails freefall from top to bottom but never the other way.

He was bobbing in the current from the filter so I moved him to the opposite corner of the tank where he continued to bob. It was as if he lost all his neutral bouyancy or took in air somewhere. He moved slowly and stayed there for a couple of hours before moving again...back to the glass near the filter.

This morning I found him stuck to the intake tube by his shell! He was stretched out of his shell looking like he was trying to free himself so I unplgged the filter for a second to free him. In a hour he was back on the glass under the filter.

Could this be his reaction to high nitrites? (they are falling quickly and I continue to do water changes)

Could hanging out by the filter just pushed air into his shell causing him to float?

Is this some kind of illness?

Is my snail just a freak?

[OrionGirl]

Not sure--though RTR may confirm--but many snails are air breathers. They surface to grab a breath, and can float along with no problem. In the wild, this serves them well by being the quickest way for a snail to travel. In a tank it just makes them look silly. I will say the snails can be sucked from their shell by filter and powerhead intakes--I cover the intakes with sponges in the tanks where I raise snails. It usually only happens to the smaller ones, but I suppose the larger ones are susceptible as well.

[TKOS]

I have been keeping snails for close to a year now and have seen many strange things. I have even seen them going from bottom to top and then swim along the surface until they get to the otherside of the tank.

Generally snails tend to hang at the water line for 2 reasons. 1 is to lay eggs, the other is escape poor water quality. Since you nitrites were high he was probably doing this. Some snail varieties seem to be able to handle worse conditions than others. I find that Ramshorn and Pond snails seem to be able to cope really well.

As for what you can do? Well just try and keep those nitrites and ammonia levels below 1 ppm (this is good for the fish as well of course) and make sure that the snails get some food. Lettuce or spinach leaf are always a good choice. There isn't much else you can do to help it.

I have also found that snails tend to like to hang out on or near the filter intake so I guess yours is no different. It should be fine as long as you keep up the maintanence.

[tomm10]

Thanks a lot guys. That relieves me. I was concerned because the ramshorn didn't exhibit any of this strange behavior. It sounds like my little gold inca was just being a snail and trying to hang in the cleanest water he can find.

I added Bio Spira to the tank this weekend (two weeks into the cycle) and it dropped the ammonia to 0 overnight and spiked the nitrites. They were at 2.0 last night and at 1.5 this morning so hopefully everything should even out in a day or two.

I've been doing regular water changes to try to keep everybody happy too :D

[TKOS]

Biospira instantly cycles your tank so this is why the ammonia and nitrites dropped to zero. But without proper feeding (ie fish waste) the bacteria will die back to the level of waste that is available. You probably should have started with this and skipped the whole cycle. When you add your new fish make sure that you test the water again and if needed add some more biospira right before adding the fish. Each added fish will increase the bioload and cause a small spike in the ammonia levels thus starting a mini-cyle in the tank so the biospira will stop that.

[tomm10]

Thanks, TKOS. Unfortunately I found out about Bio Spira AFTER I started to cycle the tank. You can bet that my next tank will be cycled with it.

I plan on adding Bio Spira with the next fish additions to keep things in check.

You mentioned I should give the snails some lettuce or spinach. how often should I be supplementing thier diet with lettuce or other food intended just for them?

[LMOUTHBASS]

I'm glad this came up- i have a blue snail that i like to cal my adventurer - he is the most interesting creature he explores everywhere!!! often time he will leap from the glass or a stem on a plan to the bottom , just sinking through the water till he gets to the floor of the tank it's crazy!!! but getting back to what you daid about floating up - i have an airstone laying flat on the gravel and one day my snail crawled on top of it(where the bubbles come out) and then let go and hitched a ride to the top from the bubbles!!! it was so cool then he sunk back to the bottom - he is very intersting he goes everywhere!!!

[TKOS]

If it were my tank I would put a piece of veggie (lettuce, spinach, celery, or other green things) in once a week. In my snail tank I don't even bother sinking it as they will get to it eventually. Don't over feed as this will lead to excess waste in the tank. Plus the snails will be eating the extra flake food and if you have plants they tend to eat the leaves that are starting to decay a bit. As I have tons of live plants in my fish tank, those snails don't get fed too much extra. I figure they get the excess fish flakes, tablets and if they need more there are 4 kinds of plant life to choose, plus algae. But those big snails need a bit more than little babies.

[RTR]

OG et al. - Apple snails are obligate air-breathers, including the Colombian ramhorn, which is a flat-spiraled Apple snail species. So are common ramhorns air-breathers. They also carry air reserves with them in the shell so can adjust their buoyancy by expanding/contracting their bodies against that air reserve, not unlike a fish adjusting its swim bladder.

Warmer water (i.e., both less oxygen content and higher metabolism), ammonia or nitrite or high nitrate, and the need to deposit eggs (in Apples) all send snails to the surface with greater frequency.

[OrionGirl]

Thanks for clearing that up, RTR... :)

[TKOS]

Excellent info RTR

[tomm10]

Wow. thanks, RTR I had no idea these were even in the Apple snail species :confused:

Great info to help me out next time I think my snails a screwy!

[RustyRay]

Apple snails have gills and lungs. But they do go to the surface to take in air through their siphon, if the species in question has one. Apple snails will also spend time at the surface to get food. If they sense floating food, they often will shape their foot into a cup shape in order to catch the food as it goes by on the surface.